The producer
Melville Winery was founded in 1989 and moved to the Sta. Rita Hills in 1996, when Ron Melville chose the area for cold-climate Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Ron and his son Chad continue the family estate, whose 120 acres under vine also include Grenache. The fruit is grown, made into wine and sold by the estate, keeping the path from vineyard rows to bottle in one family operation.
The range moves from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to Syrah and Grenache, with Estate Syrah showing a darker register. The 2019 Estate Syrah was harvested in mid-to-late November and spent an average of 35 days with skins and stems, bringing dark fruit, spice, earth, dry tannin and savoury grip to a full-bodied palate.
Known for
Estate-grown cold-climate Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Syrah and Grenache from the Sta. Rita Hills.
Notable facts
- Founded in 1989; Ron Melville moved the project to the Sta. Rita Hills in 1996.
- The estate has 120 acres under vine in Santa Barbara County’s Sta. Rita Hills.
- All Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Syrah and Grenache are grown in Melville’s own estate vineyards.
- The estate owns and tends its vineyards while controlling winemaking and sales.
- The 2019 Estate Syrah spent an average of 35 days with skins and stems after a late November harvest.
From the atlas
Melville Winery
At A Glance
Melville Winery is a family-owned estate in Santa Barbara County’s Sta. Rita Hills, founded in 1989 and established there by Ron Melville in 1996. Its 120 acres under vine grow Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Syrah and Grenache entirely from estate vineyards. Ron and his son Chad oversee a model in which the family owns and tends the vines, makes the wine and sells the bottles, so the grapes named on the range begin in one closely managed property.
The Producer
Melville began as a family winery in 1989, but its present shape came with the 1996 move to the Sta. Rita Hills. Ron Melville selected the area for cold-climate Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah; Grenache now joins them in the estate plantings. The consequence is a range tied to a single vineyard holding rather than a blend of bought-in fruit: each bottle starts with varieties grown by the family on their own land.
Place
The Sta. Rita Hills is Melville’s address within Santa Barbara County, and it is the place Ron Melville chose specifically for cold-climate grapes. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah therefore sit at the centre of the estate’s original planting decision, while Grenache extends the estate-grown range. On a Melville label, the connection is direct: the grape is not merely a style cue but fruit raised in the same Sta. Rita Hills vineyards that supply the cellar.
Soil And Site
Melville farms 120 acres at a planting density of more than 1,800 vines per acre, with rows laid out on an eight-foot-by-three-foot spacing. That close planting puts many vines into a limited area, making vineyard work central to the fruit that reaches the winery. Annual soil testing and cover-crop choices are part of that work: the estate selects cover crops partly for beneficial nutrients and insects, linking the ground between the rows to the condition of the vines carrying Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Syrah and Grenache.
Story
The family founded Melville in 1989, then redirected the project to the Sta. Rita Hills in 1996 to pursue cold-climate varieties. The first commercial vintage followed in 1999, after the family retained part of its grapes to make wine rather than selling the whole crop. That decision turned vineyard fruit into an estate label, and it remains visible in the current structure of the business: Ron and Chad Melville continue to work with fruit from vineyards the family owns and tends.
Vineyards And Cellar
Melville’s estate approach starts with water and canopy decisions before harvest. The vineyards use drip irrigation with half-gallon emitters, while water is withheld between fruit set and veraison, the period when grapes begin changing colour and ripening. Together with dense planting, soil testing and cover crops, those choices focus attention on how each vine carries and ripens its crop.
The cellar receives fruit from those same estate blocks. For the 2019 Estate Syrah, grapes came in unusually late, from mid- to late November, then spent an average of 35 days with skins and stems. Skins supply colour and tannin; stems can add savoury, spicy edges and a firmer frame. The wine was first pressure-racked in June and bottled on July 23, 2020, giving that Syrah a long route from late harvest through extended contact before bottling.
Wines
The range is organised first by grape: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Syrah and Grenache all come from Melville’s Sta. Rita Hills estate vineyards. Chardonnay brings the white-wine side of the property, while Pinot Noir, Syrah and Grenache show the red-fruit, dark-fruit and spice-bearing possibilities of the same estate setting.
Within Syrah, the Estate Syrah and Donna’s Block Syrah offer two useful levels of focus. Estate Syrah gathers the broader estate fruit into a wine shaped by its late harvest and extended skin-and-stem contact, with body, tannin and savoury structure at the fore. Donna’s Block narrows the view to a named block and is presented as the more structured, longer-lived Syrah. Neither bottle needs to stand in for the whole range: together they show Melville moving from estate-scale fruit to a more specifically sited red wine.
In The Glass
The clearest documented tasting path is through the 2019 Estate Syrah. Its late November harvest and 35 days on skins and stems point toward a full-bodied red with dark fruit, spice and earth alongside a substantial tannin frame. The long contact gives the palate texture and grip rather than a light, simple shape; savoury notes carry into a persistent finish.
That structure also explains why Syrah is a useful lens on Melville’s cellar work. Fruit provides the core, while skins and stems supply colour, tannin and savoury detail. Acidity keeps the weight from becoming flat, and the finish is where the dry fruit-and-spice character remains after the first rush of body has passed.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with the 2019 Estate Syrah. It is estate-grown Sta. Rita Hills Syrah, harvested in mid- to late November and held with skins and stems for an average of 35 days before its 2020 bottling. Expect dark fruit, spice and earth over a full-bodied palate, with dry tannin, savoury texture and a long finish. It brings together the estate’s vineyard ownership, late harvest and deliberate skin-and-stem handling in one bottle.
Anecdote
After graduating from college in 1997, Chad Melville moved to the Sta. Rita Hills area. He worked at other wineries, then he and his brother lived in a trailer while helping establish the family vineyard. Their work was physical and immediate: planting vines across the property and drilling its wells so the new estate could be supplied with water. This was before Melville’s first commercial vintage in 1999, when the family began retaining part of its own crop for wine. The trailer, the newly planted rows and the wells belonged to the years when the Sta. Rita Hills site was still being built into the vineyard that would supply the Melville label.
Final Word
Melville is most clearly understood as a family estate whose bottles begin in its own Sta. Rita Hills vines. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Syrah and Grenache make up the range, while the Estate Syrah shows how late picking and extended skin-and-stem contact can turn estate fruit into a dark, savoury, tannic red with length.
Sources
- https://melvillewinery.com/
- https://melvillewinery.com/estate/history/
- https://melvillewinery.com/estate/vineyards/
- https://melvillewinery.com/estate/winegrowing/
- https://www.santabarbara.com/winecountry/melville-winery/
- https://communitywineandspirits.com/blogs/blog/an-interview-with-chad-melville-of-santa-barbaras-melville-winery
- https://kenshinsake.us/wines/p/wine1819201-hxya4
- https://www.vintecclub.com/en/blog/wine-regions/a-closer-look-at-santa-barbara-syrah/